Study design setting and period
An institution based cross-sectional study design was employed at Felegehiwot comprehensive specialized hospital from March 10 to May 10, 2016. The city is located 565 Km from Addis Ababa in the northwest Ethiopia. According to Amhara Bureau of finance and economic development report, the city hosts a population of 277,566. In the town there are six governmental health centers, one comprehensive specialized hospital and five higher private clinics.
Regarding, to maternal health services of Felegehiwot comprehensive specialized hospital has obstetrics, high risk, and Gynecology wards used for patient admission and evaluation. The hospital serves more than five million people in the catchment area and neighboring regions.
Population of the study
All mothers who gave birth at Felegehiwot comprehensive specialized hospital were the source population for this study. All mothers who give birth to fetus of whose gestational age was 28 completed weeks and above were eligible and took part in the study.
Sample Size and Sampling Procedure
Sample size was determined using single population proportion with the assumptions of proportion of stillbirth was 7.1% [10], 3% margin of error, and 95% confidence interval (CI) and taking 10% no-response rate. The final calculated sample sized became 310. The systematic random sampling technique was used to select the final study participants. According to Feleghwiote comprehensive specialized hospital statistics on average 6000, 500, 17 deliveries reported annually, monthly, and daily correspondingly.
Data collection procedure
Pre-tested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire and medical chart review were used to collect data about socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Initially, the questionnaire was prepared in English then translated to local language (Amharic) and back to English by language expert to check its consistency. After extensive evaluation, final version of the questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire contained information on socio-demographic profile, obstetric, gynecological, and behavioral, health status, medications taken and birth outcome. Moreover, to supplement the primary data, with chart reviews of target mothers were used. Two diploma and one BSc midwives were recruited from Bahir Dar Health Science College as data collectors and supervisor, respectively. Mothers immediately after delivery, before leaving the maternity ward were interviewed.
To maintain data quality, one day training was given for supervisors and data collators on questionnaire contents, data quality and confidentiality respondents before data collection. On daily basis principal investigator and supervisor checked completeness and consistency of collected questionnaires.
Data processing and analysis
Data were coded and entered in to Epi Info version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 for further processing and analysis. Descriptive statistics such as mean, median, proportions were carried out and text, graph, and tables were used to present the data. Binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associate with still birth. Crude and Adjusted Odds ratio with 95% CI were used to describe the strength of association between outcome and predictor variables. Variables with p value less than 0.05 in the multivariable model considered as statistical significantly associated with stillbirth.